A New Direction to The Maximal Flow Problem: A Route Merging Approach

The paper presents a new direction to the maximal flow problem. A maximal-flow problem involves finding the largest flow rate a network supply can have from the source to sink. The proposed algorithm solves the flow problem by merging flow routes iteratively until there is only one route left. It has the strength that the problem reduces in size at every iteration. The route merging algorithm belongs to a family of algorithms that solves by reducing the complexity of the flow problem. The flow problem has applications in the networking of pipes and road transportation networks